"What is that!"

"Is the street moving, datty?"

"That's the new Mexico City?"

"That... building looks bigger than the Eiffel Tower!"

Unlike his family, he wasn't gazing at the tv in shock. Somehow, he knew that something like what was happening with the former Mexico City would happen. Deep within his gut, after the blue tarp or canvas was rigged over the city's ruins, he knew that it'd be given a major make-over and that more than a few hundred were going to be shocked over what it'd look like after it was unvealed.

Mexico City, though being rather disarrayed, was okay to live in up to the middle part of last October. Due to all the inclement weather that was going on back then, the city, which was built over Lake Texcoco by the Spaniards after they conquered the Aztecs then set themselves down to destroying all of their hard-done work so their urban standards could be implemented over them, collapsed into the lake that it was built on top of. Many people were trapped under the debris; some of the troops, that the man who crowned himself North and South America's ruler sent to the area about two hours after it fell to both clean it up and help the survivors from where they were, had also fallen victim to the area's surrender. Almost immediately after some of the debris was cleaned up, and all of the survivors were rescued, the city was covered. The item that covered it was dropped some six hours ago, but it wasn't until now that televised images of the newly reconstructed city were shown.

The city was much changed now, and, from what he had heard, only a quarter of the people who use to live in it were allowed to return to populate it.

"Should of expected for that to happen." Stefan thought while staring at the odd spectacle that was being shown on his tv screen. "Should of expected for what happened with them neighborhoods to happen too, come to think of it."

His secretary gave him three newspapers on the day that the cretin, who swooped in then, somehow, got into the shields that were over North and South America and then conquered them two continents, made a motion in saying that anyone who wasn't a human could come in to populate the side of the planet that he had control over; he had learned a great deal on what was going on in the Americas through them newspapers. According to the article that was in one of them, certain citizens in certain neighborhoods were forced to abandon their homes a few months ago. The neighborhoods, with all their houses and towns and other items, were flattened and then rebuilt from scratch; the former occupants weren't allowed to come in to re-habitate the areas that they were forced from. The article in the second newspaper, while speculative on why this was done, had mentioned that something was in the planning stages for New York and Chicago—large tarps, or canvases, were noticed as being placed near them and certain people in half of the two cities were told to get out about a month to a month and a half ago. The third paper's article disclosed the purpose for the change and de-population of them neighborhoods—up to now, it wasn't known on what was to happen with the city of New York and Chicago.

After Master Vile made the decision to bring other-world creatures in to populate the Americas, them neighborhoods were vacated and then rebuilt in preparation for the new arrivals. Apparently, the same plan was in the works for New York and Chicago; it was obvious that this was also the plan for Mexico City.

"Just something new to add to the plate for them folk—none of them like him... this, and the forced removal of civilians, and then the reworking of the areas where they use to live in, just gave them an added incentive to not like him more." Stefan thought after leaning back in his chair.

The article, that was put in that day's newspaper, mentioned how the people overseas were reacting to their self-made ruler's declaration of letting others come in to populate their side of the planet. The American citizens felt cheated out of being allowed to voice their opinion on who was allowed to immigrate to their side of the planet; mass hysteria was happening, and a lot of uncalled for arrests were being made on the citizens who were just voicing themselves and their rights on the situation. He didn't need to be told that the former head of the North American government was very concerned for the ones who he use to look after—if he was the President of the United States, and his people were forcibly taken over by an alien beast who harbored more than his fair share of strengths and powers, and who thought he was all that and a bag of chips, he'd be concerned too... and he was, regardless of the fact that he had no pull on that side of the planet.

"A year and a month... Seriously thought he'd be overthrown, or kicked off the planet by now." Stefan thought.

Hell on Earth was experienced by every man, woman, and child last year, on the ninth of May. After finding his still unknown way into the shield's interior, Master Vile attacked then took the bigger of the western hemisphere nations under his control; shortly after seeing his troops as swooping into the middle-lying states of the United States, he made the decision to go to the capital of that nation then get to work.

The Dakota's and Carolina's were combined first, then the states of West Virginia and Virginia were combined. After the man got his hands on a map, that charted the New England states, he combined all of them into this big mess of a state that was still unnamed. After them states were combined, the toll roads in them were dismantled—new ones, in the most ridiculous of places, were built and then equipped with some sort of mechanical robot soon after they were dismantled. After doing this, the man set in on changing the government. It was no surprise to him that the people of the Americas were confused over the new laws that were placed on them—even he was confused by them, and he wasn't even in the Americas! The man was around halfway done in changing the way the government worked, and in implementing his strange laws, when he decided to combine Canada with the United states; the same toll road changes were done along both "old Canada's" and Mexico's borders after this occurred.

Sometime before combining Canada with the United States, then initiating the toll road changes, Master Vile was called to take care of the South American continent. For the most part, he let his troops handle the "conquest" of that nation. As far as he knew, all of the heads of government for the South American continent were either caught or killed while the man's troops were reeking havoc on it—none of them had been seen since the man declared that South America was his. After the "conquest" of South America was done, he set to work in installing the new laws and regulations for the civilians that lived on it.

While he was changing the government of the two continents that he had control of, he gave the order for several Master Vile museums and statues to be built—some in plain view, that were easy to get to, and others that were in the damnedest of places that could hardly be reached or seen. Some of the bigger or taller or wider buildings in the cities and towns of the Americas were also demolished for favor of these odd, little structures that looked like churches at the same time. Almost overnight, after Canada was combined with the United States, the order for certain communities in South America to be abandoned was given—the man had pretty much let his army have their fill of killing people after word reached him that his order wasn't being complied with. From what he had heard, the casualties in the communities that were near the forested parts of South America were high thanks to the man turning a blind eye to his army's activities.

After the new laws and regulations were installed, and the man started trying to bend the wills of the two continents' civilians to his favor, he started abusing the ones that he governed over. There were many stories out there on how keen the man was on abusing the people that he came upon while "leisure strolling" the areas that he picked to walk through—women were said to be either punched, slapped, or grabbed in a way that offended them; men were said to be sent to the hospital with broken bones or skin; and certain children were also scared out of their wits end... and for no reason at all! On one occasion, Master Vile walked right through a crowd of young children, who were no more than seven or eight years old, and were doing nothing but waiting for the bus; some of them were slapped while he was passing through while others were stepped on or thrown to the side. The man was pushing himself and his weight and "influence" around and the people of the Americas were reacting in a negative way to it... and now they had this matter of the other worldly creatures being allowed to populate the side of the planet that they lived on and on their being allowed to overtake the areas where they use to live in.

"They do! They do, they do!" Thede, his ten-year old daughter, who had hazel-colored eyes and medium-length, chestnut-brown hair, exclaimed after seeing the happenings on the screen of the tv.

"Is it me or does the area around the city look darker than usual?" his oldest daughter, who just turned seventeen, asked. His daughter turned her eyes, which were a startling mix of gray, green, and gold, towards him before turning them back to the tv; she moved closer to the set then threw her long, chestnut hair back after it fell over her shoulders.

"It looks like Gotham city..." Rainmund, his youngest child and only son, who was closing in on his sixth birthday, said in mild admiration. Except for the eyes, his son looked like his exact replica; Rainmund's eyes, instead of being hazel-green, like his, were very blue in color.

Er, in a way it did and, in another, it didn't. Just about everyone knew what Gotham City was; Batman, the fictional superhero that appeared in the twenty-seventh edition of Detective Comics, which went out in May 1939, was said to both live there and protect it from the ones who came in to create trouble. Gotham was described as being Gothic in the 1940's, then it became a bit more colorful in the 1950's and 1960's before becoming grittier in the 1970's. Over the years, a similar trend was experienced with the city's depiction. At the moment, Gotham City was back to being Gothic in appearance and depiction... Gothic and a little more than technologically advanced, that was. While he smiled at his son's mention of Mexico City looking like the fictional city of Gotham, he also spoke his mind on the differences that he was seeing.

All of the old buildings that use to be in the city were gone, as were the ruins of the Aztecs and other peoples that use to live in the area. They were replaced with these oddly shaped structures that were built out of clay and either blue, orange, or purple glass. Certain roads hovered in space and, as Thede had both mentioned and noticed, looked to move whenever something was on them—he bet they were unnerving for the twenty-five hundred that were allowed to re-populate the city! The parts where the ground caved in were still there, but most were filled in with water; there looked to be windows built into the sides of the rest... he wondered where those went to for just a second before training his attention to the city's tallest structure.

As Annelise had pointed out earlier, the structure was bigger and taller than the Eiffel Tower. Unlike the wrought iron lattice work that was on the tower that was in Paris, France, this building looked to be made out of glass... which was both blue and so bright that it was close to blinding! For some odd reason, it had an oval-shaped top on it that looked to have a balcony on it.

"What you see is the basic plan for what I and the planet's ruler and conqueror have drawn out for five of the cities that are located in North America—everything is uniform, and goes well with the topography of the area that it's built on." an odd-looking man was saying into a microphone.

Thede and Rainmund screamed when the man was shown on the tv. He and Rosalinde cringed when they did this, but they didn't go to silence them. Like his wife of nineteen happy years, his eyes were close to bugging out of his face, and his throat had threatened to close up on him—Tolukack Puvran, as the little caption said, looked to have no eyes or nose... but his maw was sure big! That maw of his had long, sharp teeth in it that were red on the top but dingy white from the middle on down to the tip—with the way his teeth looked, it looked like he chewed on something that was rather bloody and then decided to forgo the basic practice of taking care of himself afterwards. His pasty-white face looked dry and cracked. Though wearing a brown tuxedo, they could still see that he looked rather emaciated.

"What's that structure in the city's center?" the reporter, a young woman who looked rather perturbed by the man that she was interviewing, asked.

"The new administrative building—Master Vile will be appointing certain individuals to work it soon." the man said, after turning his tiny, black, soulless eyes to the building that he was just questioned about.

"What is that!" Annelise exclaimed. "Looks like something from a horror movie... Datty, is that one of the species that's being allowed to move to the Americas?"

"I have no idea, and I don't know." Stefan answered his daughter's two questions quickly.

"Go away! Dat, make it go aw—"

"Thede..."

Along with teaching their kids right from wrong, he and his wife taught them how to treat people and how to handle themselves when a certain someone is around who's picking on another for the color of their skin, or religion, or for something that they saw was under their norm; he and Rosalinde were fast on getting on Thede for her acting out about Mr. Puvran, and they made sure to tell their other kids to behave themselves too. He and his wife were a good batch of people and they were doing their best to raise their kids to be the same. Even as a child, he had respected others and the same went now that he was in his mid-fifties; Rosalinde, though having a different raising than he, was the same way in her youth and in the present. Regardless of Mr. Puvran's crazy appearance, no negative words from them on him would be spoken, and neither of them were about to start hopping up and down about wanting nothing of what he looked like on the planet either.

The planet wasn't to be the same again—while he already knew this, he was sure of it now. With Master Vile stinking up the Americas, and the aliens of other worlds coming in to populate the places that he had control of, a new era was coming into being. In a way, he was glad to be around to see how it'd all go down. Even though alien population wouldn't happen in the eastern hemisphere during his term as Germany's president, or, possibly, in his lifetime, he'd still react in a respectful, but curious, way to the ones who moved into the Americas. No prejudice, hateful words, pick-ons, or insults would be done by him after the new inhabitants of the Americas started moving in and then were shown on the tube.

"Willing to bet that Bettina is watching this... and that she jumped after seeing him, then started making up some sort of plan that revolves around what she saw as a way to get more on her side in getting me thrown out." he thought while looking at the dark atmosphere that seemed to surround the city of Mexico. As Annelise had pointed out earlier, the area surrounding the city did look darker than it use to be... darker and more foreboding. To him, it almost looked like one of them polaroids of a no-man's land.

While things were going well at home for him, and were going according to schedule on his side of the planet, and while Master Vile was still trying to find a way in but was still being thwarted by the shields, he was experiencing a bit of issues in the Chancellery that were keeping him up at night. Bettina Gottlieb about broke her neck in both calling and then saying that he should declare a state of emergency over what was going on in Elchesheim-Illingen—she saw the article, that was put in the June 11 newspaper, about Miss. Irene and her family and she also learned that Miss. Irene's husband and his daughter were in the shield and were living with them.

After saying that he should declare a state of emergency in Elchesheim-Illingen, she said that he should quarantee the town and then safely remove everyone who wasn't human from it. His response of saying no had caused her to both scoff at him and slam her end of the phone down. Non-surprisingly, a series of meetings were done on the matter during the next two days. Bettina, during them meetings, was ranting and raving about the two extra aliens being on the shield's interior; thanks to her rants and over-done concern on the situation, some of the people in the meeting hall had reacted to what was learned. It was just him, Ajeet, Katharina Fuchs, Gustav Maihofer, and Wilda Schmidt who were steadfast on the situation not being dire, and that the family should remain untouched. Erhard Scheel was alarmed over the alien and his daughter being inside the shields of Germany; Sigmar Röttgen was a bit angered over the situation not being known before now; and Ursula Arendt was downright against the two being left in the shield and being allowed to move about the ones who lived and worked in Elchesheim-Illingen. If not for him saying that the alien man and his daughter were in the shield's interior since the latter part of April, and if not for Katharina and Gustav saying that nothing adverse had happened since the alien man's residency and then noted appearance, Bettina might well of gotten her way on having the Irene's removed from the country. With her acting the way she was—in jumping and then declaring that one, innocent family needed to be evicted from the country, and in persecuting two individuals for their ethnicity—, he sent in the forms for her to resign from her post and for the one who was next in line to take her place.

He was met with a bit of trouble after firing Mrs. Gottlieb—she was either waiting for him to fire her or got raving mad over his doing what he did; as of the last twenty days, she was working to get him impeached. Along with running around, spreading all sorts of stuff on how his friendship with the planet's heroine was blocking his good senses, and making him turn a blind eye to the country's safety, and to the safety of the people that live in it, she was saying that he was the biggest mistake to be running the Chancellery and that he needed to be gotten rid of. At the moment, she had around fifteen percent of the German population on her side. Almost immediately after Mrs. Gottlieb was relieved of her post, the country's Informationsfreiheitsgesetze was done on the Chancellery.

The country's Freedom of Information law, which was put into effect on September 5, 2005, and was given its final update on September 14, 3084, was one of the older laws here. It basically specified that each person had an unconditional right to accessing official administrative information; regardless of his being bound to give what he knew on the Irene's to the public after the law was exercised, he kept some things to himself. No one, not even his wife or children, knew that Miss. Irene, and her children, were to be removed from the planet in November—along with not knowing how to break it to everyone that this was to happen, and not wanting anyone to flock to the Irenes' doorstep then do the constant knocking and then begging thing to get them to stay where they were, he didn't want to create a panic.

In a way, he was concerned and a bit saddened by his friend and her sons being taken like they were. He didn't know if the alien man was going to let his wife continue being their heroine, or if he was going to let her return to Earth to check in on its people, or maintain the shields that needed repairs or replacing, and he didn't know if he was going to treat the Irene's well after the move was done, or let them continue the friendships or be in contact with the ones that they befriended since becoming German citizens. On the day that he paid the Irene's a visit, then got into a fight with the man who his heroine was forcibly married to, then found out what he did, he was mostly centered on their relative safety and on what was going on with them; the idea of asking the man that was living with them the questions that popped into his head during the drive home had never crossed his mind while being there. The courage to ask them questions had yet to come to him too. He was sure that the date of the Irenes' removal from the planet was going to pull some heart strings and create some stress in certain people—he being one of them, since he had grown rather close to them, and did more than value their friendship.

"Rosalinde and the kids know what happened on the secondth of last month. They know all of what happened with me, some of the neighbors on the street that the Irene's live on, and that alien man. None of them have gotten concerned, or turned red around the collar after hearing that two other aliens have taken up residence in one of our country's shield's interior." he thought after going to change the channel.

Naturally, Rosalinde was taken aback by the speeding tickets that he earned during his trip to see the Irene's but she didn't get but so mad about it—after receiving and then opening the envelopes that they were in, then taking them out, she approached him on them. Like any other good husband, he calmed her by saying that he had to get to Elchesheim-Illingen and fast. The telling of what happened on that day wasn't that hard and, with the kids being around to hear it, he didn't have to repeat anything that he said to her. The kids were curious about Miss. Irene's husband and daughter, and his wife, while also curious, seemed to be accepting of his speeding to get to his friend and her family; despite this, they were staying out of the Irenes' business... which he was glad for. Unless he was invited in on what was going on with his friend and her family, he didn't bug or ask too many questions on what was going on and, unless it was dire to his or someone else's health or well-being, he kept all of what he learned to himself. If not for them tickets being received, and his wife's ever-growing concern about them and him, he would never of told her what he did.

"Wait," Annelise said right when he was about to change the channel.

"Annelise?" he said.

"What are they doing?" Thede asked.

"Stefan, don't." Rosalinde said. In his eyes, his wife, who was seated on the couch, and had a knitting kit on her lap, was still as lovely as could be—her hips and waist may be average, and her thighs may be wide, but she was very nice and presentable... and who could resent them sparkling blue eyes that she had in that pretty face of hers, or that long, brown hair that she had.

He consented to the wish of his family by putting the remote down. After the remote was on the arm of his chair, he saw what they were interested in—there were four windows on the screen of the 50" flat-screen tv, that was above the mantle of his family's fireplace; there was a crowd of people on each of them that were either walking forward or acting foolhardy. He was fast in turning the volume up, and in putting together what was happening.

The people of the Americas, after seeing how Mexico City looked, had sent up a raged chorus and then started congregating to do marches, or act out their displeasure over what was happening. One of the groups was near the "new" Mexico City—Tolukack Puvran, and the one interviewing him, were fast in leaving the area... and a bunch of goat-like militants were fast in taking their place. The miliants forced the crowd from the city then formed a barricade—a sort of spike-like device was thrown at the crowd, then a bunch of sticks were swung at the ones who were still standing after the device's contents caused most of the crowd to either collapse or run off. All thirty who were still standing were struck with a blue energy source that caused them to drop to their knees, and then sides; the barricade was just coming towards the fallen civilians when he decided that his family had seen enough of what was going on.

"Datty?" Thede said.

"Think it's time for everyone to go to bed." Stefan said while getting up from his chair. He put the remote down then turned to look at his family. "No more tv for the night; everyone upstairs and get ready for bed."

Unlike the Leinart's, who let their children watch the proceedings of what was going on with Mexico City, he and Gretel put their kids to bed about thirty minutes before the story ran on the news. He and his wife saw everything; when the alien architect was shown on the screen of their tv, he was fast in shielding his wife—Gretel had always had a fear of creatures that had mouths that boasted sharp, and bloody, teeth and, like the Gretel that she was, she reacted to seeing that man by having a near heart attack. Mr. Tolukack Puvran, who ran off to some unspecified location after the "mob" was seen as coming towards the city, made a return to their television screen about five minutes after the barricade carted the still-present civilians to the awaiting vans that were parked nearby. The ones who were injured by the projectiles, that came from the spike-like devices, and the ones who were struck by that energy source, were said to be taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment—in reality, they were carted to jail and then thrown, while still being injured, in cells.

"The ones on the continents that I've taken to my control will have to accept that this is how it goes from now on and that certain cities and towns will take on a whole new appearance for both the peoples of this planet and for the ones who decide to move here." Master Vile was cited as saying around fifteen to twenty minutes after all the angry civilians were either run off or carted to jail.

From what he and his wife had heard, around ten alien families had taken the option of moving into the Americas. According to the morning news, these families settled in about four days after Master Vile's declaration was made; of the ones who moved in, all but three remained—they moved into one of the areas that were once occupied by humans, and that were massively reconstructed. Naturally, civil disobedience was being done by some of the people who use to live in that neighborhood—some of the adults and upper-teenage folk were "charging" in to vandalise certain structures and cause the occupants of their former living space to feel fear; in a way, he wasn't but so surprised to hear that all but a family of three, a family of five, and a family that consisted of eight adult members and two juveniles were run out from their new homes. Master Vile, non-surprisingly, hadn't done a thing to protect them people—oh, he sent his troops in but only to protect the newly reconstructed buildings that were "under threat". According to the news, the ones who remained in the neighborhood couldn't go anywhere—they spent everything of what they owned to get to where they were.

While he felt sorry for all three of them families, he really felt for the one that consisted of ten members. The family's two, elder members looked to be experiencing some issues in walking—they either got around in this sort of hover-like wheelchair or were very, very slow when they were on their feet—and the two who looked to be their next eldest members looked to be very sick. The others looked to either have the same illness that the next eldest in their family had or were healthy—with ten to provide for, there was a lot on the shoulders of them four seemingly healthy people. Naturally, the two kids couldn't do anything to bring in money for the bills or table—sadly, it was one of the kids who looked to have the same illness that one of his older siblings and, he was guessing, parents had. The members of the ten-member consisting family looked to have protruding or stalk-like eyes all over their head, and brown skin; the wings, that were on their backs, were pitifully short, and couldn't be used for flight, while their legs were trim... a bit too trim, honestly. While their arms had a little bit of size on them, they weren't much bigger than their legs. It was only by the little bows that were perched atop the family's female members' heads that he was able to discern the females from the males.

While the ten-member consisting family was shown on the tube, the other two families refused to have any cameras near them or be involved in any reporting business. With the happenings that were going on overseas, he didn't blame them. They were probably scared out of their wits ends, and were probably afraid of more ridicule or prejudice being thrown at them if they showed themselves on tv.

"He's tiny!" Haimi said after the youngest member of the ten-member compromising family was seen on their tv. As of the last two hours, the same thing on the news was run again and again—it was mainly what was going on in Mexico City that was being shown, but the rerun on the alien family was also being done.

"He's no bigger than a year old," Gretel said.

"He's cu—" Chayla made a face when the little tyke, who's green and blue eyes were rather cloudy and hot-looking, lurched forward then belched out a greenish-white liquid. One of the family's non-sick, female members was fast in going to the young man's aid right after he retched what he did. "Dat, is he sick?"

"Master Vile's letting people who are sick come in and populate the Americas?" Gretel said while shaking her head.

It did look like it. While watching what he was, he thought that a potential problem may be underway—the last plague was experienced two hundred and one years ago; while he wasn't around to experience it, he knew that his family was struck by it. Of the fifty Ballal's that were around when it struck, only five survived to continue the line to the future. Them damn mosquitoes, that carried a highly evolved disease in them, and that passed it along after biting unsuspecting people and then sucking their blood out for sustenance, had done a number on the human population, which had yet to really recover to what it was before they came along. While he didn't mind other people from other worlds coming in to populate the planet he did mind if they were sick—who knew what they carried, or what they could create with their sicknesses! After seeing what he did, he was glad that it was just the Americas that the aliens were coming in to populate. Maybe, with shield-made and generated protection and isolation, the people of the eastern hemisphere wouldn't be struck by whatever contagions or diseases the sick aliens brought in, which could breed or mingle with the already known contagions or diseases that were on the planet and then mutate into a new plague or illness that could cause trouble for the planet's current-living population.

"Pardon, the people of the eastern and western hemispheres, where the shields are still up and strong—while the Americas have no shields over them, and are run-over by Master Vile and his armies, the island nations in the Carribean are safe from him and that counts double for Hawaii, which still has its shield over it and is still apart of the United States." he quickly corrected himself.

While sitting where he was, he wondered if Master Vile had noticed that he didn't, technically, "own" all of North America. With Hawaii, which compromised of eight islands in the Pacific, not being in his control, the people that were there were still free... and Horace A. Smith, the American president, was still president of it. In a way, Hawaii was like a giant middle finger to Master Vile—he smiled behind his hand when he imagined the citizens of them eight islands grouping together somewhere and then flashing them fingers and saying ha, you say you have the Americas but you don't have us.

"Why don't you two go outside and play—it's the weekend, and no school is going on, and the weather is good, and all you're doing is sitting and staring at the tv." Ajeet said to his two children.

"Okay," Haimi jumped up then left the room in a hurry.

"Can I stay, datty? I want to see the little alien boy, and the other aliens that moved in." Chayla asked after standing then coming towards him. He was fast in shaking his head.

"No. Think the lil' guy's been put to bed for now, and think the others that live overseas are doing their best to play the hide routine."

"Dat..."

"Chayla."

That closed that matter. His daughter gave him a depressed look then went off to do as he told her. His wife followed behind her, but not to do as she was, though. With his wife's arm being in a splint instead of something that was made of thick fiberglass, she was taking advantage of being able to use it again—before the kids started going crazy after the family of aliens were shown on the tube, she was using the broom and dustpan in the dining room. He presumed that she went to resume that activity... or to make a batch of sweets—he hoped that they were of the spice variety, if the latter was being done. He had never been able to say no to her spice cookies, or other sweet-baked desserts. After his wife and kids left the room, he picked the phone up then started dialing. His caller? Well, seeing as he hadn't heard so much as a peep from his heroine and friend, he was about to break the drought between them and see what was up.

After dialing the number to the Irenes' landline, he stood then went towards the tv. He shut it off then turned to go back to where he had previously been seated; his butt had no more been planted before his call was picked up.

"Yeah, hello?" the gravelly-sounding voice, that came through his handset, could only belong to one being—the "husband" of his planet's heroine. "Who's this?"

"A friend of you wife's." was his prompt reply.

"Take it that that's your name?"

"Ajeet."

"Oh." it was long, and drawn-out; he bet the man pictured all of their little moments together after he spoke his name. "Hang on a second."

"Take it that you have Miss. Irene all chained up somewhere?" he said after nearly two minutes passed, and no word came in through his handset from the one who picked up.

"M... no, she's got free movement, as always." the man on the other end of the line said.

"Where is she?" he both thought and asked.

"Upstairs." was his quick reply.

"Alrighty then."

Alrighty then? What kind of reply was that? The man on the other end of the phone, which he was really only just handling for the second time since taking up residence in the home that his family was in, was an odd one; he still had a desire for him to be far from his wife, and to have no verbal contact with her. This... Ajeet Mahatma Ballal was the same man who was seen as dancing a very risque dance with his wife in February, and he was also seen as... hovering his hand close to a portion of his woman's just-exposed breast—which was his! This man was also known to be with Hazaar on the day that he and Lhaklar were seen in Berlin—while Lhaklar got away, Hazaar was dogged on foot by both himself and the Goblins that were picked to go to the location to see if they could find any trace of his then-missing sons; the man on the other end of the phone prevented him from capturing his son, and he also shot at and injured his stepfather, who was doing nothing more than helping him in bringing Hazaar in.

He considered hanging the phone up. Just hang the phone up, then disconnect it from the wall, then go and find his wife's cellular and do the block routine on the number that'd probably come through it. This man, like the one who called last night, shouldn't be calling the house's landline number, or his wife's cellular number, and he shouldn't bother in wondering about his wife either. Why on days like today was one like Mr. Ajeet Mahatma Ballal calling someone who lived more than a few hours from him? Surely the man, who had a wife who looked a bit too young for him, and two young children by said wife, and a cushy job in a building that was close to where the country's administration was, had better things to do than to be phoning up Ang—

"Take it that you've seen what's going on overseas?" the low, husky-sounding voice on the other end of the phone dragged him from his thoughts, and grouchiness.

"Yeah and, before you ask, I'm in no way agreeing with what he's doing." TazirVile replied. "It's too early, and the folk that he's allowed to come in to populate the planet don't look to be properly screened."

"Screened?"

"Given a check-up by a doctor."

"You noticed how they looked as well?"

"Hard to not miss."

Yes, he had seen the reels on the news on what was going on with Mexico City, and with the three families that moved into the Americas. Most of the people that moved to the planet were from the Mokis Galaxy, which was located in the eastern quadrant of the Universe; thanks to most in that being at war with a relatively new conqueror, most were looking for a new planetary residence that wasn't so war-ravenged. The only family that was on the planet that wasn't from the Mokis Galaxy was the one that had ten members in it—the Terronda species, which reigned from the Mazon Galaxy, which was one of the Universe's southern-lying galaxies, were a mostly free-spoken, but gentle, race that did their best to steer clear of trouble. It was most unfortunate that Syobisia 4, the planet that the race was mostly found on, and where the family of ten came from, was under threat by a sort of illness that wasn't all that well understood by the scientists that were trying to study and then find a cure for it.

Why Vile was allowing the potentially illness-carrying Terronda's to colonize his planet, and why Kzohon Ragarn, the conqueror and ruler of the Mazon Galaxy, was allowing for his sick people to move to other galaxies, and possibly put the people of them galaxies under threat of what his civilians were catching and succumbing to, was beyond him. This was another sloppy tactic that he frowned upon in how one went by conquering and then ruling and then allowing other species to come in to populate the realms that they've taken to their control—most everyone who conquered realms initiated a plan where potential civilians to their galaxies were screened by doctors, and then have their criminal and other affair backgrounds checked over, before being allowed to come in and make themselves feel at home and most conquerors also put a block on their civilians leaving their realms when a disease or illness was known to be going on in them. Angel, though expressing her sorrow over the three families that were now forced to remain in the Americas, had also expressed her concern over the planet's current population after seeing that nearly half of the family of Terronda's were sick; Lhaklar, on the other hand, grew raving mad over what was going on and needed to be both reprimanded and then told to go upstairs and calm down. The rest of the family's reactions to what was going on was mixed.

"From what I'm told, you're double-related to the man who's in the Americas." the man on the other end of the phone said.

"Double-related?" TazirVile repeated the word that was just said.

"Some sort of in-law and, I believe, cousin or something to him."

"Uncle, and I've never had the "in-law" tag applied to me in regards to him. In a way, I'm glad for this—being his uncle is enough to stomach."

"Tazzy?" Angel came around the corner; he was fast in both smiling and giving her the phone. "Who is it?"

"One of your male friends in Berlin." TazirVile said while walking away from his wife.

" 'One of your male friends in Berlin?' What, is Mr. Alien jealous or something over you having friends of the male gender, or is something just crawling a bit too far up his skirt?" Ajeet asked after Angel had her ear to the phone.

"During the morning hours, he's a bit grouchy." Angel hoped that this was enough to explain why her husband was acting the way he was.

"Take the cattle prod to him—if he's that grumpy, he needs to go back to bed and then stay there until he's not so grumpy." Ajeet said.

"Yeah, once he's up and about, he doesn't go back to bed, or take any naps."

"You okay over there? Mr. Grump's not going to start barking out orders, or swinging his belt at any of you, right?"

"Except for Lhaklar, who's slowly calming down from what he saw on the tv this morning, everyone's doing well. Tazir will calm down in a few hours—just give him some time to get over the motions of the first few hours of being awake."

"Haven't heard from you in a while. Since our last talk, how's things been for you and the boys... and your daughter and Mr. Alien?"

Even though Tazir was right around the corner from her, she felt no fear in telling her friend how she and her family were over the last three weeks. After the events at the destroyed meal of June 24 occurred, she decided to clock-in early at U-Krop-It; a note was written and then taped to the fridge, then €50 was left on the mantle of the fireplace—it simply said that she wasn't at home, and that she could be reached via her cellular or communicator at any time. With the events of the previous night, she figured that the boys wouldn't want to eat a meal while their sister was around so, she left them some money—just in case they wanted to have breakfast in a shop instead of at home. Another note, written for Tazir, and left on the table that was beside their bed, had given him the specifics on what she wanted the boys to do that morning; from what she could tell, all of her sons went out to eat. All of the money was missing from the mantle when she came home.

According to her husband, Bile, who was given his sister's consent over selling everything that he either found for her or she found for herself when they went to the dump, went to the flea market in Karlsruhe almost immediately after taking €10 from what she left for him and his brothers. By the time Tazir paid him a visit—to see how he was doing, and get in a little better sights than those of what he had seen over the two months that he was living under the shields—, he had sold nearly half of the items that were on his table. The enameled horse boxes, the pillows, all but one of the stained glass lamps, and the lamp that had the butterflies and flowers on it were some of the items that weren't taken to the flea market and then sold; Bile claimed that, even though Eshal was such a "bitch" during the meal of June 24, he was still going to let her have some of the items that were found at the dump. After checking in on their son, Tazir went home.

Even though her husband got on Eshal for what she said on June 24, he let her voice most of the displeasure that they felt towards her; it wasn't after until the events of July 12 that he sat her down then set her straight on what she was doing.

Everything was calm and quiet in the house right up to Guyunis's birthday. Tazir, like with when Hazaar's birthday came around, was very keen on taking in the details of how her adopted son liked for his special day to be done—all while she was making Hazaar's birthday dinner, which consisted of grilled leg of lamb, and steamed carrots and potatoes, and was making the lemon-flavored, camouflage tie-die cake, he was nearby... watching as she worked, and taking down valuable information that he'd need to know for when their son's birthday came around again. The same happened when she brought out the blueberry-banana ice cream after the meal was consumed and the cake was presented to their son.

"Mushrooms, mushrooms, and more mushrooms." she remembered her husband saying after "stealing" behind her then looking over her shoulder. At the time, she was making pan-fried chicken in mushroom sauce; baked mushrooms, that were filled with Sulguni cheese; and stuffed mushrooms—Guyunis had a thing for mushrooms, and he collected a lot of them while out on his hunt, so she made the decision that his birthday meal would consist of his favorite food item. Tazir had picked up on this very fast after seeing what she was making, and that her son "dove" into it after it was laid before him.

After the meal was consumed, a non-nut containing carrot cake cheesecake, that had cream cheese-coconut icing on it, was served—unlike the meal, she asked her son what he wanted in a cake for his special day. She did the same with the ice cream—her son wanted the type that had coconut, passion fruit, and mango in it and that was what she got for him. Long before the meal, and its dessert, was prepared and then cooked, Guyunis was enjoying the items that were given to him.

Guyunis was gifted a total of twelve CDs—four by a band named Hellyeah, two by another band named Rising Against, three by another band named Five Finger Death Punch, two by another band named Mudvayne, and one by a band called Meshuggah. He got very busy in listening to them. He was also gifted a virtual game system, that came complete with a helmet, two remote controls—one that was shaped like a rifle and the other that was normal in appearance—, and a game called Dune. From what she could tell, Guyunis had an interest in knives—her adopted son was given two knives on his birthday that he just about went crazy over. One had a Damascus blade on it, and an onyx handle that was decorated with gold and plain red designs, while the other was a ten-inch long cable knife—which her husband did think was rather nifty, and which he asked to see after seeing it being given to its new owner. Hazaar surprised Guyunis with two models—one of a 1886 Benz motorwagon and the other of a 1886 American LaFrance Silsby-Manning Steam Fire Engine—which Guyunis just about had a heart attack over.

Lhaklar and Lazeer were the ones who really went out for Guyunis. While the CDs, and game system, were from her, and the knives from Bile, and the two models from Hazaar, Lhaklar got him something that he could make some noise with and Lazeer got him more than two things to build and then display in his room. Tazir was fast in deducing that Guyunis was into motorcycles—four model kits, consisting of a Tamiya 16040 FLH Classic Harley Davidson, a BSA C15, a VRSCR Street Rod, and something called a Midnight Rider Chopper, were received. She was very aware of the fact that Guyunis listened to some of the tunes that were on some of his new CDs while putting some of his models together.

The final gift received was probably the biggest—somehow, Lhaklar managed to get his hands on a B.C. Rich guitar that had a black base color that had all sorts of blue, white, and yellow electric designs on it. Lhaklar wouldn't spill on how he gained the revenue for the item; Guyunis was really too thrilled to receive the guitar to worry about where the funds came from for it. With the guitar looking to be in better than grand shape, and with it looking to be one of them high-dollar instruments, it didn't look like something that one who was working part-time, and was making minimal wage, could afford. Since being received, she had heard its strings being plucked, so she knew it was being used—no device with which it could be hooked up to, and then gain the real, electric sound from, had been purchased or given to Guyunis, so all her son could do was play it like it was an acoustic guitar instead of an electric.

The music-playing, and the use of the guitar, and the resumed habit that Guyunis had of leaving his books on either the kitchen table or counter top, was what caused the calm and quiet spell to end.

"Ah, that brings back memories... Had a similar issue with my oldest son on his leaving his magazines and comic books lying about the house when he was a teenager too." Ajeet said after hearing about Guyunis's resumed habit of leaving his books on the kitchen table or counter top.

"Gives the place a lived-in feeling, don't it?" Angel said.

"Sure does, and also shows you how forgetful the teenage mind can be. Käte and I did the ransom box thing with him—he does a certain chore, or a certain bit of chores, and he gets what he leaves lying around the house back."

Eshal had that idea under her cap as well... along with the one where she grabbed the item that was left behind somewhere and then rushing it up to its owner—on some instances, she just threw it at Guyunis while, in others, she either barged into his room or stopped and then shoved him against the wall before yelling at him about his resumed habit doing. Guyunis and she got into a good fight on the two instances where she barged into his room with one of his left-behind books—while Eshal wasn't hurt, Guyunis did receive a slap to the face and another to his chest, which caused him to revert back to his old ways of being afraid of Tazir and Eshal for a few days. On the other instances, he either picked the book that was thrown at him up or spoke in his own defense before pushing his sister from him then claiming the item that she was ranting to him about. On the instances where Eshal just collected Guyunis's books, then put them in a box, that was kept in her room, and then said that he could have them back when he "earned" them, her son used his communicator to contact and then tell her what was going on.

All of Guyunis's confiscated books were returned to him. While he was still leaving his books behind in the kitchen, it was no longer Eshal who picked them up. It was now either Tazir, Bile, or Lazeer who did so—Tazir, as of the last few days, had picked up more three books that were simply left on the dining room table; he was fast in having Eshal watch him as he took them up to their owner and then made a rightful return.

Eshal made a return to hating, or disliking, the music that was played by her brothers. Four days ago, when she came in from work, Guyunis practically bulldozed her to the floor—he was scared half to death, and the reason for this lie in what happened earlier that day. Apparently, her son was building his Steam Fire Engine while Meshuggah was playing on his stereo; Eshal slammed the door to his room open then came in screaming about his "needing to turn it down and now". Bile was there at the time, so he was able to get her out of the room that she went into; on the other two instances, where she either came in then went towards the stereo—to either turn it off or destroy it—, or where she went towards Guyunis in a "menacing way", her son wasn't at home or able to prevent what happened between the two children that she adopted.

"She flipped his bookcase!" Ajeet nearly exclaimed.

"Yep. Flipped the whole thing over. The stereo, all of the CDs, and everything else that was on it were either broken or damaged in some way." Angel replied. "Scared him something awful!"

"Guess so, I'd be scared if something like that happened to me at his age too."

"Hazaar was home at the time. He went in, then did the spell to repair everything to what it was."

"Nothing's broken anymore?"

"Nope."

"Take it that she was physical with him on the other instance?"

"From what I was told, she shoved him back when he started to get up from his table's chair. After he got up to defend himself, she grabbed him by his arm—he had some bruising on that arm, she had him that tight!"

"Should I call the polizei? Sounds like that girl needs some serious therapy, or a good talking-to."

Which she got. On the thirteenth, the day following her going into Guyunis's room to sneak his guitar away after Guyunis plucked its strings for three hours, Tazir sat her down then asked her a bunch of questions before giving her a good piece of his mind on what she was doing. If not for her husband threatening to tack on another month to their stay on the planet, Eshal might not of broken down or saw the reason in the error of her ways. As of the last few days, her daughter was very placid and controlled around her brothers... which she was more than ever grateful for! She really did hope that it'd continue, and that Eshal would do as her father had told her to do today in leaving the house. It was past a month since her daughter went outside—it was way past time for her to get in some outside time!

"And so, in the month of May, you had your husband to deal with and, in the month of June and July, its his daughter who you find yourself as gaining a headache over." Ajeet said after hearing the events of what happened over the last three weeks. "Surprised over hearing that—usually, the girls are the better behaved ones while the boys are the ones who give out the most headaches, or give their parents a good run for their money. Your daughter does know Guyunis's history, right?"

"I really have no experience in having teenage daughters under my roof so I can't say anything on who gives their parents more headaches." Angel said before answering the question presented to her. "Yes, she's aware of what he's gone through."

"If I were you and your husband, I'd sit her down and tell her his history again—with what he's gone through, he doesn't need one of his siblings to be constantly at him. A fight here and there is normal, and acceptable, but constant fighting isn't."

"Agreed."

"You available for a visit next weekend?"

"Most definitely. Haven't seen you in a while, same goes for the boys—think we'd be delighted to see you." Angel replied. "Just so you know, Stefan asked the same question last night, at around nine-ten... he's to be expected for a visit next weekend as well."

"Make it a double."

"Deal."

"Alrighty then, keep your husband and kids—daughter especially—corraled and well-tended until then. I shall see you sometime after I clock-out at the Bendlerblock next weekend—we shall have a ball-al."

"Funny, Ajeet."

"Thought'd I'd get a chuckle from you on that. Bye now."

"Bye." the two of them hung up at the same time.